A/N-Thanks again for all your reviews. I really appreciate them.
It was 8 am and Brass and Catherine were at the jail infirmary waiting to go in and see Tyler Renning.
A guard came out to meet them. "You can go in and talk to him now."
Tyler was sitting up in bed. He had a smug expression on his face. No one had told him about Jessica Myers yet.
"So Tyler, hope you are ready for some news today," Brass said to him in his sarcastic tone.
"What? Am I being set free?"
"In your dreams, Buddy," Catherine smirked.
"How's the little punk," Tyler grinned maliciously at her.
"Still in the hospital, no thanks to you," Brass responded before Catherine could. "But let's move on to the news I have for you. You know your girlfriend, Jessica Myers, well she was found dead in her jail cell today."
Tyler's grin fell from his face. "What? No, you are lying to me. Trying to trick me."
Catherine produced a couple photos of Jessica's body. Doc Robbins had given them her cause of death as a stroke. She had been a heavy Meth user.
Tyler studied the photos in disbelief. It was the first time Catherine had seen the man show vulnerability.
Staring at the photos of her, he simply asked "how?"
"She died of a stroke. Guess her years of drug use caught up with her." Brass grinned.
Tyler's eyes burned with fury. "Don't you be smiling about her death. She was a good woman. Not like this bitch here. Jessica would have made you beg for your life."
Catherine and Brass exchanged amused expressions.
"Did Jessica like to take control of the women like you like to control the men?"
"Jessie would show them what a real woman could take, but none of them could take it like she could."
"So who used the pool stick," Catherine decided to try asking.
"That was Jessie's thing. My girl has…had one twisted mind, but that's why I loved her." He looked down at the photos again. Then he looked back at them.
"She didn't tell you anything, did she? She kept her mouth shut like I knew she would have. My girl would have never given me up. Now you are trying to use her death to get me to talk. I'm not going to say another word."
Brass just smiled. "You don't have to. We already have plenty on you to go for the death penalty. We were just looking to fill in the blanks."
"I'm not giving you anything more," Tyler huffed.
"That's fine. We will be on our way now." Brass and Catherine left Tyler furious and trying to break free of his restraints in anger.
Outside his room, Brass smiled at Catherine. "Well that went well."
She grinned along with him. "Better than I expected first time around."
"Another shift ending on a good note. I like days like these," Brass said.
Catherine smiled. She felt better than she had when she first started her shift. Now she could go home and see her daughter for a few hours.
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Greg was on his side in the hospital bed. He stared blankly at the wall across from him while the doctor examined his back wound again.
"Well the swelling has come down a bit, but it's nowhere near where I would like it to be. I'm going to up your antibiotic intake."
"Okay." Greg simply responded. The new painkillers were at least working well enough now that he hardly felt any pain.
Then the doctor left and he was alone again in the room. The day before no one had come to visit him. Nick had called and apologized for not being able to make it, but he had errands he had to run between shifts and sleeping. The others not stopping by did not surprise him. Warrick, Sara, and Grissom only came every other day, usually.
The one person who had not come that he had small hope would, did not- Catherine. She had been there everyday until he yelled at her and blamed her for his problems. He felt empty inside since she walked out that night without a word.
He knew he probably blew any chances he might have ever had to be close to her.
Whenever Nurse Wade came in with his food now, he ate all the food only to end up throwing most of it up later. The current painkillers he was on now worked on the pain, but made him sick. He felt drained all the time. But either he dealt with the pain or he lived with getting sick most of the time.
After seeing him throw up his food yet again, they changed his medication again. This time around he seemed to be able to eat some food, although he only ate so the nurses would not yell him at anymore. He still really did not have much of an appetite.
Greg was staring into space again when Nick and Warrick came in to visit him right after their shift.
"Hey G! How's it going? Are you going to be let out of here soon," Nick asked him as he pulled a chair up.
Greg had not told anyone about the infection yet. "Hi. No, I'm stuck here awhile yet." He looked dejected.
Nick noticed he seemed really depressed. "Why? What's wrong?"
Greg let out a tired sigh. "My lower back wound got infected. I'm on mega antibiotics now and they had to change my painkillers because they were making me sick to my stomach. Now I just feel worn down."
Nick did notice Greg seemed a lot thinner in his face and he also had dark circles under his eyes.
"That sucks, man. So how much longer do you think you will have to be in here?" Warrick asked him.
"I don't know. Not until the infection is cleared up I guess, but even when I am released from here, I still have to go through some physical therapy. I'll be lucky if I have a job to go back to after all the time I am sure to miss."
"Of course you'll have a job to go back to. Grissom would never take that away from you."
"Yeah besides it is work related, your injuries. They would not dare take your job from you," Warrick added to Nick's sentiments.
Greg looked away from them. "Yeah but they look out for their own needs before someone like me. Look at how they settled my civil case out of court, basically making me look like the guilty party. Who says they couldn't turn this situation around on me?"
Nick and Warrick just stared at each other, both thinking the same thing; it was not good that Greg was seeing the negative side of things. That was not like him.
"Greg, that's not going to happen, Tyler Renning is guilty as sin. You did nothing wrong at all here," Nick said, hoping Greg would look their way again.
Greg replied with a simple "Yeah." Then he finally turned his dark eyes to Nick.
"Look I am really tired. These meds knock me out. Is that okay with you two?"
"Yeah sure, G."
"Yeah you just get better, Greg. We miss you on the job." Warrick tried to make him feel better, but it did not seem to work.
Greg tried to smile but failed miserably.
Out in the hallway Nick and Warrick looked at each other.
"He's in bad shape."
"Yeah he sure is. Well it does not help he can only lay in one position all the time and has not much else to do in that room."
Nick got an idea. "Hey I think I will stop by his place tomorrow and grab his iPod and bring him my PSP. At least he can listen to his tunes and play some video games while laying in bed."
"Good idea, Nick."
It was mid-shift when Nick finally saw Catherine and Grissom who had been out on a crime scene when he and Warrick got in.
"Hey, have either of you had a chance to see Greg lately?"
Grissom answered no and Catherine just shook her head.
"Why," Grissom asked Nick.
"Well Warrick and I saw him after our shift yesterday and he was really down. Turns out he's going to be there longer than we thought. He's got an infection from his lower stab wound. He's pretty miserable. I was going to take him his iPod and my PSP today but I haven't had a chance to stop by and do not think I will."
Catherine admitted to herself that she felt bad about not seeing him since his meltdown, as she preferred to call it now. Now hearing he had suffered a setback in his recovery made her feel worse. No matter how much his words hurt her, he did not deserve this. She felt the pull of guilt at her heart again.
"I can drop them off. I planned on seeing him later on anyway," Grissom told Nick.
"Thanks. I know he will appreciate it."
After Nick walked away, Grissom noticed Catherine staring off into space.
"Did you want to come with me to see him?"
Catherine looked at Grissom. "Uh, no. I will see him later on though."
"Okay, well I'm going to drop off the bullets from our scene with Bobby," he said to her.
"Yeah, I'll drop off the stuff for DNA and Trace," she replied and then walked off.
She walked into the Trace Lab with a distant expression on her face.
"You got something for me," Hodges asked her. When she did not respond right away he tried again.
"Earth to Catherine Willows, do you have something to give me?"
Catherine broke out of her thoughts about Greg and faced Hodges. "I'm sorry. Yeah I need to find out what these substances are." She placed two small envelopes in his hands.
"I wonder who you were thinking about so intently," Hodges smirked.
Catherine looked wide-eyed at him. "Who? Who said it was a who?"
"Hmmm, a very concerned look on your face. Same look you've been carrying around here since you and Greg were taken hostage. Now I hear Greg is going to be laid up in that hospital even longer now. I am assuming you just heard the news too. You must be really worried about the guy. God only knows why."
Catherine glowered at him. "Just find out what those substances are, okay?" She turned on her heel and stormed off.
Hodges held up his palms in defense. "I just am an observant person," he yelled after her, with a smirk on his face.